From Brag to Cynic
by Maric
Summary: Brainy was up to his usual 'brilliant' ideas that nearly cost him his life. Luckily he survived but now there's something different about him.
1. Mishap

From Brag to Cynic

By

Maricruz (Also known as Mari, Maric, Maricc, Mar, Anime-iac, and Animeiac)

Disclaimer: The Smurfs are the © properties of Pierre Culliford (Peyo) and the ® of Hanna Barbera.

Chapter 01: Mishap

It was another Smurfy day when Papa Smurf was working on a plant growing formula for Farmer's vegetable garden. "Now just a single drop of liquid calcium to help the vegetables grow faster and this formula will be finish." That would've gone perfectly if it wasn't for a loud knock on the door making Papa Smurf to squeeze more than a drop and caused the formula to blow up on his face. With his face covered in smoldering ashes Papa Smurf let out a small sigh and said "Come in."

"Hello Papa Smurf." Brainy greeted as he entered Papa Smurfs lab. "Are you in need of my assistance to help with what ever it is you are working on?" He offered.

"No that's quite alright, Brainy." Papa Smurf politely denied while trying to wipe off the ashes from his beard.

"But surely my superior intellect will be able to aid you Papa Smurf."

"I'm sure I can managed, Brainy. Why don't you go out and play Smurfball with all of the other Smurfs." Papa Smurf suggested so that he can get continue with his experiment. "I'm sure they would need your eh-hum well knowledge as much as I do."

"Certainly that you would thought I, Brainy Smurf, would spending my time at something as trivial as Smurfball?" Brainy protested as Papa Smurf kindly showed the self-proclaimed intelligent smurf out the door.

"Now Brainy it's such a nice day outside." Papa Smurf did his best to convince Brainy. "Perhaps some fresh air will help expand your mind a little bit."

"Aw Papa Smurf can't I just..." But Papa Smurf shut the door behind Brainy before he could continue.

"Hmph, that's the thanks I get for wanting to help." If there's one thing that Brainy Smurf doesn't like is to be insulted. That and being thrown out of the village every other day. "Well if Papa Smurf thinks he doesn't need my help then he's got another thing coming." And with that Brainy turned around and headed back home.

As soon as Brainy entered his mushroom house he immediately ducked under his bed and pulled out a small crate of various elixirs and other strange ingredients that he recently 'borrowed' from Papa Smurf's lab during his previous visits. "A-ha here we are." Said Brainy as he examines his supplies. "Now if I can guess the right combination of these ingredients I can create a potion that will increase my intelligence up to 100 no wait, make that more than a 100% than the average smurf in the entire village." He gave out a good hearty laugh. "Then every smurf will come to me for guidance and leadership even Papa Smurf will be asking me for my brilliant advice."

However there is a slight problem in Brainy's plan, he doesn't know how much of these ingredients he needs to put in to make his potion. "Whoops guess I didn't calculate the exact amount I needed. I need to be careful about this. Too much will definitely hurt my mind and too little will most likely lower my IQ." Brainy has to think this long and hard. "Oh well it looks like I'll just have to wing it."

And so Brainy Smurf started throwing in the ingredients at random into his little cauldron that's already been pre-heated by the Bunsen burner. Making sure not to put too much or too little of the ingredients he'd need for the potion. "Looks promising enough to me." Brainy said thoughtfully as he finished mixing the ingredients inside cauldron. He sniffed the potion and jerked back, gagging. It smelt putrid. "Maybe I'll add some sugar to it…couldn't hurt, could it?" Brainy took a sugar plant he had 'gathered' and added some of it to the potion. It smelled a little better, but it looked really weird. Letting his potion cooked for a bit while occasionally stirring it to prevent burning. As the concoction simmers Brainy turns off the Bunsen burner and waits for it to cool down. When the potion is now at room temperature Brainy dipped a small beaker into the cauldron to gather some of the potion.

"At last with this potion that I, Brainy Smurf, created with my own genius, will now have the all the intelligence in the world, no wait, in the universe. And then I'll finally get the respect that I truly deserve." And with that assurance Brainy drank the potion and waits for the results. "Hmph it didn't work." But then Brainy's body started to go into repulsion and dropped the potion on to the ground. Shattering the beaker in many pieces and caused the potion to spill over. Then Brainy started to make gagging noises as he grabbed his throat. "Dear Smurf, what did I just created?" He gargled as tried to steady himself with anything he tried to hang on. Knocking stuff over in the process. "Papa Smurf! Any Smurf! Help Me!" Brainy pleaded while holding his stomach then he started to feel intense pain in his head.

At the same time Clumsy was on his way to Brainy to see if he wanted to do something with him today. "Gee I wonder if Brainy has any plans today." However when he got to Brainy's house he heard some noises from inside and knocked on his door. "Uh Hello Brainy whatcha bein' doin'?" When Clumsy listen to the coughing and gagging sounds, he immediately opened the door and found his fellow smurf and best friend on the floor in a fetal position as he was clutching on to his stomach. "Oh My Smurfness Brainy what's wrong!"

"Bad potion... Too sick... need help!" Brainy was in intense pain to think straight.

"Hang on, Brainy, I'll go get Papa Smurf!" And then Clumsy quickly ran out from Brainy's house in a panic.

"Papa Smurf! Papa Smurf! Help!"

When Papa Smurf heard Clumsy plea he speedily stepped outside to see what is the matter. "Clumsy what seems to be the problem?"

"Oh Papa Smurf, it's Brainy!" Clumsy was trying his best to explain the serious situation. "I don't know why but he is sick!"

"Great Smurfs! Hurry Clumsy take me to him! We must treat him right away!"

Not a moment too soon Clumsy and Papa Smurf made to Brainy's house and both saw him lying down and not moving on the floor.

"Great Smurfness! Hurry Clumsy we must check to see if he's still alive!"

Clumsy did as Papa Smurf instructed.

Thankfully Brainy is still breathing but not mobile.

"Come on Clumsy, we need to get Brainy to his bed as quick as possible." Papa Smurf lifted Brainy by his waist while Clumsy carried him by his feet.

It took some effort but they managed to get Brainy to his bed.

"There that should do it." Papa Smurf observed Brainy to find what caused his illness. "No fever, that is good. But his breathing is shallow and his pupils are diluted." He pulled up an eyelid to examine his eyes. "And his reflexes has no responses. I'm afraid there's is nothing we can do for the time being."

"Gosh poor Brainy." Clumsy fears the worst for his friend.

"Tell my Clumsy, what was Brainy doing that made him become this."

"Gee I don't know Papa Smurf. I found him all shakin' and stuff and holding on to his stomach when I came here."

"Well did he said anything to you before we found him unconscious?"

"Uh... he told me something about a bad potion, being too sick, and needed help."

"Bad potion? Why would..." But then Papa Smurf detected an unpleasant scent. "Oh my Smurfness, what is that awful smell?"

"I think it came from over there on Brainy's table." Clumsy pointed where the smell might have originated. It came from the little cauldron on top of the table where Brainy was making his intelligence enhancement potion.

Papa Smurf went over to investigate and looked inside the cauldron. "Dear Smurf, what could Brainy be making?"

"Gosh, I don't know Papa Smurf, but what ever it was it didn't looked very good."

"It looks to me that Brainy was doing one of his 'brilliant ideas' of his." Papa Smurf carefully picked up the cauldron. "I'm going to examine this potion and see if I can find an antidote for it. In the mean time, Clumsy, please look after Brainy."

"Glad to, Papa Smurf." Clumsy saluted as Papa took the concoction to his lab. He sooner returned to Brainy's bed. "Poor Brainy, I wish I knew what's wrong with you." The little smurf did his best to make sure that Brainy is comfortable, without tripping over or dropping something or making Brainy falling out of his bed. "I hope you'll get better soon."

Meanwhile on the other side of the forest lies the dark and miserable dwelling of the Smurfs most worst enemy, Gargamel, who is working on one of so-called fool-proofed plans on capturing the Smurfs. "This time I will finally have those miserable little smurfs once and for all." He let out his signature sinister laugh.

"And what is it this time." Scruple asked, but not interested anyway.

"This, Scruple, my dear apprentice, is my latest invention. Behold, the Smurfing Seek and Removal!" When Gargamel revealed his latest contraption, it looking nothing more than a barrel with a hose attached to it, a pump on the side of the barrel, and handmade compass on the hose.

"You mean that is it?" Scruple couldn't believe the simple mindedness of this poor hapless man that was suppose to be his master.

"Meow meow." Azreal agreed. His so-called Master's inventions never work.

" It looked like the last invention that was suppose to suck up the smurfs but instead it tried to suck out your brains." Scruple whispered into Azreal's ear. "Which weren't any to begin with."

Azreal just gave a small snicker at Scruples truthful little joke.

"Laugh all you want you little fools, but with this beauty, I, Gargamel, will be the greatest Smurf Catcher in the world." Gargamel turned on his Smurfing Seek and Removal machine to test it out and of course it proves that there still a few bugs to work it out. The hose wound itself around Gargamel's waist and gotten attached to his nose. "Gah! Get This Blasted Thing Off Of Me!" Gargamel cried out as he frantically kept pumping the lever which quickly broke off. Now there's no way to stop the mad machine.

"Great, here we go again."

"Meow Meow." Scruple and Azreal's rolled their eyes at Gargamel's dismay.

"WaaHaa! MOMMY!"

Back at the Smurf Village, Clumsy was still keeping a close eye on Brainy who is still sleeping silently on his bed. "Gosh Brainy, I wish I knew what I can do for you. Can you still hear me? Oh I know I can do some cleaning while you rest. At least I'll be helping." Clumsy went to the broom closet to get some cleaning supplies but when he opened the door, various objects fallen on top of him. "Whoops, guess I shouldn't open the door to quickly." He chuckled a bit. But then he suddenly heard a small moaning noise, it was Brainy and he just started to stir up. "Brainy!" The klutzy little smurf rushed to Brainy's side.

"Ow my head. What happened?" Brainy massaged his head. He was still a bit fuzzy from the effects of his potion.

"Papa Smurf and I found you on the ground and you weren't moving."

"The last thing I remembered was getting sick and passing out. The next thing I knew of, everything went black."

"You mean you don't know what you did before?"

"Haven't the foggiest."

"Are you feeling alright, Brainy?"

"Other than this awful headache, I'm fine. I think?"

"Really? Because you usually make a big deal and... Oh well, I'm just so happy that you're still alive. I gotta tell Papa Smurf about this!" Then Clumsy started to leave. "You stay and get some rest, okay?"

"Okay, see ya." Brainy saw his friend out the door. He lied there on his bed, thinking of what might have happen. "I wonder what was that all about?" The little smurf wasn't himself today after he woke up. He maybe look fine on the outside but on the inside, something is different. Something that isn't quite Smurfy.

A/N: Brainy was lucky that he survived his failed potion sickness. But now he's quite different. What could it be? Was it the potion that caused his changes? Did it revealed a part of Brainy that he didn't know he had? Should Papa Smurf and the other Smurf be concern about this?


	2. Slight Off in Recovery

**From Brag to Cynic**

By

Maricruz (Also known as Mari, Maric, Maricc, Mar, Anime-iac, and Animeiac)

Disclaimer: The Smurfs are the © properties of Pierre Culliford (Peyo) and the ® of Hanna Barbera.

Chapter 02: Slight Off in Recovery

In the gloomy stone house in the swamp, Gargamel was working out the kinks of his latest invention. "Ha! There, that should do it."

"Are you sure about it this time, Gargy?" Scruple's still not confident of his master.

"Yes, you Dunder Head! Now I got all the bugs worked out, my Smurfing Seek and Removal should be running perfectly!" Which is actually true. The Smurfing Seek and Removal became operational without any problems. "It works it works!" Gargamel gave out his signature evil laugh at the success of his invention.

"Huh, I guess some miracles can come true."

"Nyaa nyaa."

"If I spot any of those miserable little Smurfs they won't know what trouble they'll be 'sucked' into!"

In the Smurf Village, Papa Smurf was studying the potion that caused Brainy to get sick. "Dear Smurfness, it seems that Brainy was trying to mix every single ingredient there is, even the ones that shouldn't be used in potions. Some times I really don't know what he is thinking." Next, there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

Clumsy Smurf entered Papa's house very excitedly. "Papa Smurf Papa Smurf, Great News! Brainy's awake!"

"Thank Smurfness. How is he, Clumsy." Papa Smurf carefully put away the potion he was examining.

"Better, I think, he's resting now."

"Perhaps we should go check up on him just to see if he's doing okay." Papa pulled out his little medical bag from the same cupboard he stored the potion.

"Oh yeah, good idea, Papa Smurf."

With Papa's medical bag, both he and Clumsy Smurf left together to go see Brainy.

Over at Brainy's house, we see Brainy still asleep in his bed when there is a knock on the door.

"Brainy? Brainy are you still a sleep?" Clumsy called.

"I was 'til now." Brainy answered but he sounded a bit sleepy and annoyed.

Papa and Clumsy were relieved and entered the house to see Brainy still in his bed.

"How are you feeling right now, Brainy?" Was the first to ask.

"Well aside from having my life flashed before my eyes, I feel fine." Brainy answered but not in his usual manner, however this did not go unnoticed by Papa Smurf.

"Then you wouldn't mind I do a little check-up on you just to make sure." Papa Smurf placed his medical bag on top of the nightstand next to Brainy's bed.

"Sure, go right ahead." Brainy granted his permission.

This was quite unusual to Papa. Brainy would never agreed to be examine that easily before. "Oh right let see what we have here." He pulled out a stethoscope and begins to check Brainy's heart rate. "Heart rate, normal." Next came a tongue dispenser. "Alright Brainy, say ahh."

"Ahh."

Papa Smurf place the tongue dispenser and looked inside Brainy's mouth. "Tongue and throat, normal." Then Papa removed Brainy's glasses and checked his eyes. "Pupils not diluted, that's good." Finally, Papa placed his one hand on Brainy's forehead and another on his own. "No Fever, Thank Smurfness. Anything else that you know that is making feel uncomfortable?"

"You mean beside that nasty aftertaste from that awful potion I made? I can't believe I actually made that stuff. I don't know what I was thinking. Other than that, I'm okay."

"Well it was very dangerous making a potion like that. You can't just put anything in without knowing what may or may not happen." Papa lectured the younger Smurf.

"Don't worry, Papa Smurf, I am never going to make anymore potions ever again." Brainy declared.

This somewhat surprised Papa but he assumes that Brainy may go back to his old ways again. "Well the important thing is that you are fine now and perhaps it would be good idea to stay home for the rest of the day."

"Okay Papa Smurf." Brainy agreed.

Papa Smurf was quite unsure about Brainy's change in behavior. "Um, right. Clumsy, mind if I have a word with you?"

"Uh, sure Papa Smurf. Here's one of your books, Brainy. That should keep you from getting bored while Papa and I talk."

"Um, thanks, Clumsy." Brainy accepted the book Clumsy gave him and it was of his 'Brilliant Quotations by Brainy Smurf'.

"This will only take a moment, Brainy." Papa Smurf assured.

"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere." Brainy started to read his book.

Papa and Clumsy stepped outside so they can have their conversation.

"This is most peculiar." Papa didn't like what was happening to Brainy.

"Yeah, uh, what is, Papa Smurf." Clumsy doesn't know what was wrong with his friend.

"Have you noticed anything strange on how Brainy's behaving?"

"Well Gee, Papa, he seems fine like you said."

"He is fine, physically, but there's something that I just couldn't quite put my finger on it."

"What do you mean, Papa?"

"Brainy allowed me to examine him, he admitted he was wrong about the potion he was making, he promised to never make another potion ever again, and he even agreed to stay home."

"But Papa, a lot of the Smurfs in the village do as you say."

"That's just it, Clumsy. Brainy never that agreeable. He always tries to make everything his own way and thinks he knows everything."

"Gosh, Papa, I guess I never noticed it before and Brainy and I are usually together."

"Yes, I think it's got something to do with that potion he made. I'm going back to my lab and study it more. In the mean time, please look after Brainy and see if there might be some more changes. If you see anything unusual, come straight to me right away."

"Uh, yes Papa Smurf."

"Good." Papa Smurf left Clumsy at Brainy's house as Clumsy went back inside.

When Clumsy came back in, he saw his friend still reading his book, but there was a slight frown on his Brainy's face. Clumsy wasn't sure why Brainy is like that so he decided to ask. "Uh Hi, Brainy, is everything okay?"

"Tell me, Clumsy, when I was being Papa's lab assistant, did I inhaled any fumes of his potions while I was writing this?" Brainy showed Clumsy the book he was reading.

"What do you mean, Brainy." Clumsy wasn't sure what Brainy was talking about.

Could this be one of the changes that Papa was talking about.

"I mean this. This book is nothing more that just stupid quotations and mindless dribble. I mean who writes like this."

"Uh well, you do."

"No wonder no one likes me! This book makes sound like some kind of self-absorb jerk!"

"That's not true Brainy, I like you."

"Okay then listen to this. 'If there is one true smurf that that true smurf is Brainy Smurf.' Sheesh I can't believe I wrote that!"

"But Brainy, that's how you always write."

"Are there anymore books like this?"

"Sure, lots of them."

"And did any other smurf like them?"

"Well uh, that is, uh, nope. No smurf ever read your books but you."

"And can you blame them? Who goes around talking like he some kind of big shot who thinks he knows everything and writes garbage like this?"

"Uh, you do, Brainy."

"Well not anymore. Starting right now I'm getting rid of these stupid Quotation Books and never write another one ever again!" Brainy slammed his book closed and gets out of bed.

"But Papa Smurf said you should stay in bed"

"Papa Smurf said to stay inside the house, he didn't say anything about staying in bed. Now are you going to help me get rid of these books or not."

Clumsy wasn't sure about all of this. Papa Smurf did say if he sees anything unusual he should go see Papa right away. But unusual sometimes mean bad and Brainy letting Papa check him, not wanting to make anymore potions, and taking his advise are good things. So there was only thing Clumsy would do. "Uh Sure." He agreed.

"Good, now let's get started."

And the two Smurfs quickly got to work on taking down Brainy's famous Quotations series.

'Gosh, maybe these changes in Brainy are probably good things and Papa Smurf said that change is good.' Clumsy thought as he and Brainy grabbed the books and put them in boxes.

A/N: Well this is a surprise. Brainy actually using his common sense for once. Maybe that potion actually did something good after all. But will it last? What if there is something more than a change of behavior? What if it is a start of a new trouble? What if Gargamel hears about this? Find out next time in From Brag to Cynic.


End file.
